


Expatriate

by Faolance



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-07
Updated: 2017-12-07
Packaged: 2019-02-11 18:00:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12940704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faolance/pseuds/Faolance
Summary: “I mean, I understand what you’re saying, Shiro but.. How can we come up with a plan if we can’t see it?” Hunk nervously touched the tips of his index fingers together as he talked. “Plus, it pulled off the vent cover, screws and all. That means it’s really strong...Maybe we should just- I dunno- leave it alone?”





	1. Prologue

“It has scales! How would it change color?”  
Amber eyes lit up with excitement as Pidge turned from the creature to the rest of the group.  
“Do you think it’s like a cephalopod?!” Her grin was akin to a child winning a crane game for the first time.  
“A seffla-who-the-what now??” Lance’s gaze squinted with a furrowed brow, asking for a definition.  
“Cephalopods are the squid and octopus family. Seeing as how it has _scales _, and not _scaly skin _like a chameleon, it must change colors a different way.”____  
As if to inspect this theory, the green paladin dropped her theatrical hand movements and shuffled closer to the small reptilian (?) creature, who quickly scuttled away. Its scales flared up, giving the foreign beast a rocky sort of texture, as aggressive reds and yellows flooded across the said body. A cross between a hiss and a growl clawed its way out of the cornered animal’s throat, but that just seemed to excite Pidge even more.  
“It can even change texture! And look at those color patterns! This is a wild-kingdom miracle!”  
Shiro stepped forward, gently leading the afore-mentioned back away from the (Scared? Vicious?) creature. “So, what you’re saying is that it’s like an octopus, a master of disguise. It can change color and texture to be invisible whenever it so chooses.”  
Lance huffed and unsquinched his eyes as he crossed his arms. “That still doesn’t answer my question from before. How can it change color with scales?”  
“It must have chromatophores underneath the surface of the scales! Either that, or it’s the skin cells and the scales are clear. I wonder if it has multiple nervous center-control systems? That would explain all the complicated color patterns!” Lance immediately went back to squinting, furiously this time. Pidge opened her mouth again, but Hunk gently pushed forward.  
“She basically means the cells have sacs full of pigment that squish together to form different colors..and she’s also wondering if there’s another brain to control it.”  
The blue paladin opened his mouth to reply, probably to ask a question about having multiple brains, but was cut off by a loud clang as the vent cover dropped to the floor, the feathered end of a scaly tail disappearing in it’s wake. The three humans cringed at the harsh scrape of hurried claws against metal. Pidge turned to Lance, teeth still grinding from the uncomfortable sound.  
“Great, Lance! You let it get away.”  
“Me?! I wasn’t the one nerding out!”  
“Guys! Calm down. I agree, the situation isn’t ideal, but arguing isn’t going to help anything.” Shiro’s hands fell subconsciously to his hips as he continued, “What we need is a plan.”  
“I mean, I understand what you’re saying, Shiro but.. How can we come up with a plan if we can’t see it?” Hunk nervously touched the tips of his index fingers together as he talked. “Plus, it pulled off the vent cover, screws and all. That means it’s really strong...Maybe we should just- I dunno- leave it alone?”  
“That’s not an option, Hunk. We don’t know what this creature can do- what if it’s sick? What if it attacks someone, and they can’t get to a healing pod? Or if it breaks castle functions? That’s not a chance I’m willing to take. We need to at least get it into custody, to find out if it’s dangerous or not.”  
“Yeah, yeah. Don’t worry Shiro- animals love me, I got this under wraps.”  
The said leader raised an eyebrow in amusement as he bit back a laugh at this confidence.  
“Okay, paladins. Here’s the plan…”

_____ _

“Any signs of the stray since this morning?  
“None at all, I’m afraid..”  
“Do a scan, then!”  
“I already did a scan, Princess!”

Coran continued to tap away at the control board, strange but consistent beeps and blinking lights littering the display. The man seemed to be doing five things at once, turning different sized knobs and pushing multi-colored buttons with a distance of a couple feet.  
“Then do another one, Coran. We must find the creature before it can do any harm!”  
“I’m trying, Allura, but it’s moving too fast for the motion sensors!” He began to tap the screen and buttons with a little more force than necessary in his irritance. There was a slight tension between the Alteans, especially when Allura began to break his concentration even further.  
“But do we know where it’s moving too fast?”  
“It keeps jumping though rooms- almost teleporting!”  
“That’s--”  
“Impossible, yes Princess. I assure you I grasp the oddity of the situation!” Coran’s movements lacked their usual grace and fluidity, as his arms and fingers rushed across the various screens, pulling up holographic projections from the various security cameras in the castle.  
“Despite the scanners, the animal isn’t showing up in any of the rooms! There must be some sort of malfunction.. Unless--!” With one flick of Coran’s wrist, a map of the castle was brought up, and he began to plot red dots in a rough line.  
“Coran? Unless what? What are you doing?”  
“The scanner picked up the creature here, here, here, and here.” each of the dots were pointed to in their respective order “The dots are all pointing in the same direction, Princess. The reason room scanners can’t pick up the critter is because-”  
“It’s in the vents! Coran, according to the path.. Where is it heading?”  
“Oh, dear.. It’s too late to intercept it, I’m afraid..”  
The Alteans exchanged worried glances as the map glowed, a new red dot having appeared.


	2. Chapter One

Keith sat on his bed, leaning against the wall in his room, idly sharpening his knife. He let his mind wander, the only thing really fixated was the stone’s overused surface gliding along the knife’s edge. He needed a new stone to sharpen his weapons.. Despite his mind’s wandering nature, as previously described, his thoughts kept rolling over the same thing.  
The creature.  
No doubt everyone was on lookout for it, maybe even found it. That’s not what Keith was worried about. He was worried about what would happen once they did catch it. Afterall, it was a long ways away from home- where he assumed home was, anyways. It’s not like they saw where the animal was from- they all just kinda thought it must have come from the planet before.  
Well, now Keith was just thinking in circles.  
Basically, what troubled him, was the lack of understanding. On both behalf of the creature and the team.  
What they plan to do once they caught it? What if they can’t catch it? Will the creature get used to them, or continue to hide wherever it is? What if it hurts one of them? Would the team try to understand, being in an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people and strange smells, strange sounds? Or will they try to push it away, set it free on some other planet?  
That’s what he was worried about. Keith liked animals- he’d always preferred them over people. They were quiet, and perceptive, like him. They were easy to read, to get along with. An animal isn’t two-sided, it forms a positive or negative relationship with you, and lets you know. That’s it.  
He sighed, as he got up and grabbed his jacket. If he was to ever get out of this slump of confusion, he needed to do something physical, so to the training deck.  
CLANG!  
Keith froze, stationary in his pose, about to open the door.  
CLANG CLANG!  
At this, he whirled around, because what the hell could possibly be making that noise?!  
He went a few steps further.  
CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG--  
A loud curse rang through the air as the vent cover went flying and embedded itself in his stomach, completely knocking the air out of him.  
A body followed closely, harpooning out of the opening and unceremoniously dropping to the floor. Keith’s eyes widened as the form quickly scrambled to its feet, slitted pupils locking on his crumpled form.  
Quiznak.

"It's headed _where _?!"__  
Shiro couldn't help his voice raising in volume, as his pace quickened down the hall. His walk was just below run, sort of a light jog.  
"Lance, come in. Lance? Are you there? LANCE!"  
"Ow, okay okay! I'm here! I had myself on mute, relax." Shiro sighed, and pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation.  
"Why do you-?! Nevermind that. Lance, I think your sector is closest. Get to Keith's room- the creature might be in there!"  
"Ha! No worries, Sir Lancelot is on his way to save the asshole in distress!"  
The entire team groaned, Pidge the loudest, but left him to it anyways. As much as they all liked to complain, he did get the job done.  
He put himself on mute, and began to mutter to himself.  
"...The Perils of Keith Kogane. Starring this rollicking rescuer, and The Voltron Mob, but specifically their courageous sharpshooter Lance McChugaboom... and that villain of villains, The Hooded Haggar. Keith Kogane, heir to a vast fortune, is in perpetual peril from his fortune-seeking guardian Zarkon Sneakley, who, unknown to him, is really working with the Hooded Haggar."  
Lance laughed fiendishly in place of the 'Hooded Haggar'.  
"But foiling this fiend's foul plots is Keith's everepresent protector Leandro Hernández Rodriguez Garcia McClain."  
"..Did you just modify the opening narration to Penelpope Pitstop?"  
Lance started at the new voice behind him, slowly turning from his schematics. "Maybe."  
"And why is Haggar the villain of villains? Shouldn't it be Zarkon?"  
"It rolls off the tongue better--! Why do you ask so many questions." Lance's voice deadpanned, trying to remain casual despite the tension in his body. It was hard to relax when you had to will away the heat in your neck.  
Meanwhile Keith was scowling at him with crossed arms. Until they fell away and his eyebrow raised with a smirk.  
"Are you blushing?"  
"N-No!"  
"You're embarrassed."  
"I-I'm not!"  
"This is why you're always on mute, isn't it?"  
"I-!" Lance's mouth snapped shut, lips turning up to a pout as he faced away. His attention switched to the com's, where he sent a message to their leader.  
"Shiro? Yeah, I got him. He's fine (cough) unfortunately (cough).. No. No!" Keith awkwardly stood there, unable to communicate without his helmet. He sort of just zoned out, until a certain part of the conversation gained his interest.  
"Oh I forgot to ask-! Wha- You know I get distracted, Shiro!"  
Lance flicked himself on mute again, but then thought better of it, and flicked the switch again. He crossed his arms, turned back to Keith, and spoke loudly with sarcasm. "Have you seen the creature anywhere?"  
"Wha- um- me? I haven't seen the creature, nope." He inwardly cringed at the sound of his own voice, but it sounded more like going with Lance's sarcastic theme than horrible lying, so... All good?


	3. Chapter Two

It was bizarre. Sure, Keith caught a glimpse of the creature before, but it had been in the dark, and slinking away from everyone. Now, in full light, unmoving, without a crowd, he could really look at the it.  
‘The creature.’ ‘It.’ Now that he thought about it, Keith should really refer to this.. uh, them, as something other than that, right? An animal is a living being and not an object, after all..  
His eyes roamed the small almost lumpy -! form before him. He first noticed wary pinned-back ears, like a jackal's, followed by a surprisingly brightly colored feather mane stretching down the long neck, craned forward to glare at him. Ram horns on either side of the head curled to a round and narrow jawline, leading the way to a long, thin, currently snarling snout. He stretched forward on his stomach, so as not to tower over.. them. He slowly reached out his hand, palm up. They smelled him, scales steadily flattening to reveal a sleek body with a slight bump in the spine.  
“Don’t be scared..you’re safe here,” he cooed.  
Keith’s mouth tipped open in surprise when the side of a scaly face rubbed down his hand, until his fingers brushed the horns. He took this as silent permission, and scooted forward onto his elbows, reaching forward to the gentle curve of their frontal bone. They happily obliged, pressing their head to his extended palm.  
Keith felt his mouth quirk up slightly as he continued to pet the almost glass-esque surface of the fellow space-resident. There’s no way this is the ‘vicious creature’ everyone’s scared of, he thought as soft clicks echoed from their throat, and scales rippled into a sea green.  
“Just looking for peace and quiet, huh? Without prying eyes? I can respect that.”  
He continued to trail his fingers along smooth, rippling bumps of scales. The gloves made of leather carefully slid over the curved hill of a spine, tracing a familiar shape.  
"You almost look like-"  
Keith's words stalled to a halt as two knocks at the door. His blood ran cold.  
"Keith, it's me. I'm coming in."  
"Quiznak-- Shiro don't come in!" Dark eyes panicked as they flicked about the room.  
"...Why not?" Keith froze as fingers inputting the passcode to the door also halted, as he tried to think of something other than "My room is housing for an illegal immigrant that's really a refugee", or "I'm harboring a wanted criminal after a mistrial".  
"I'm naked." The red paladin's palm swiftly found his forehead. It took all of his self control to not laugh at himself.  
"Oh. _Ooookay. _I'll...come back later?" It sounded more like a question to himself than Keith, but he replied in awkward affirmative anyway.__  
Shiro's hesitant steps echoed down the hall, getting further away. Keith could breathe easier with every step. He looked down at the scaled being in his room. Big, bright doe eyes stared at him. Stared and stared.  
"What?"  
Their horned head cocked to the side in confusion.  
"Sorry I panicked."  


  


__“I don’t understand,” Allura’s brow furrowed to further accentuate her confusion. “According to Coran, the creature stopped moving through the vents when it got to Keith’s room.”  
“Well, _according to Keith _, he didn’t see it. Maybe it got out before he went back to his room or something..”__  
“Lance is right,” Shiro spoke up, still looking to the control room floor, knee-deep in thought. “He didn’t have to see the creature in order for the it to be there.”  
“It doesn’t matter where it _was _, we need to know where it _is _.” The Altean princess didn’t hide her frustration as the unofficial meeting continued on. Pidge spoke up next, ignoring the former’s obvious agitation.____  
“Although, it didn’t set off the sensors of the next room, or either ends of the hall. So either it’s still in there, or somewhere in between.”  
Hunk nervously tapped his fingers together, muttering to himself in the gap of conversation.  
“What was that, buddy?” Lance put an encouraging hand on his best friend’s shoulder blade.  
“Where is Keith? Shouldn’t he be here? He _is _a part of Team Voltron, right..?”__  
“Don’t worry,” Shiro started, “I went to go get him. Turns out he’s-” his eyes briefly flicked to the floor as his features became more tense “- _preoccupied _..”__  
“Preoccupied with _what _, exactly? This is an important meeting, even if you were not specifically called down here. He should not be-”__  
“I’ll be sure to fill him in later, princess. With all do respect, Keith sometimes has his own… _things _to.. Well, he-”__  
“Shiro means he’s just a _weird kid _that just does his own _weird stuff _sometimes. _Moving on _!” Pidge was obviously eager to carry on the conversation, but it was Hunk who spoke up next, once again.______  
“I, uh.. I was just wondering.. How will we know when we see it? If it can change color and texture, how do we know it’s the creature and not just.. I don't know, like a shadow on the wall?”  
The paladins and members of the Altean royal court pondered at his words. Pidge suggested they use the pseudo-heat vision in their helmets, but that was soon vetoed In order for that to work, they needed to analyze a heat signature of one from that populace. Since they don’t normally gather signatures from uncivilized species, they didn’t have a heat signature to compare to when it came to the creature.  
  
So the plan, ultimately, was to wing it. 


	4. Chapter 4

Small muscles tensed in anticipation as the red paladin slowly moved from his spot. Keith slowly made his way over to the closet, stuffing himself inside. Rattling and shuffling could be heard as he dug through. A crinkle of a wrapper sounded, seemingly echoing in the stiff silence as he found what he was looking for.   
The small package was soon torn open as Keith closed up the closet and headed back to his previous location. A feathered mane twisted as the foreign species cocked its head to the side, watching Keith sit down cross-legged a few feet away. In his gloved hand, he held some kind of makeshift Nature Valley bar. It was really crushed food goo stuck together with alien tree sap, but that's just what they called it. A Space Nature Valley bar. He broke off a piece, and held it aloft.  
"You hungry?"   
A long, narrow snout sniffed at the sticky snack, with hesitant breath. In the end, the green(ish) treat was taken from pale fingers by sharp but gentle rows of teeth. The red paladin watched curiously as soft crunches rumbled from the animal's mouth, and their throat gently bobbed at a swallow.   
"Your biology isn't so different, huh? "   
They continued on like that. On the floor, Keith breaking off pieces and giving them away, making sure the foreigner didn't choke. After the bar was finished, he continued to explore the new biology, tentatively petting the scaled guest. They reacted much like a cat, leaning into his touch, rubbing against his hand, arching under his palm. Not to mention the clicking noises from their throat.  
The more he looked at them, and thought about biology, the more he realized they were practically a lizard. He'd had a few lizards as pets. He used to just go and catch them from the wild and keep them a bit, just because he could, after a while, he'd send them back of course, but - that doesn't change the fact he learned a few things. Like how to tell gender.   
Now, Keith doubts everything will be the same as Earth. However, the last planet they were on - Sylfnek or something - looked an awful lot like a forest. One thing forest lizards and desert lizards had in common was the swollen tail for males, which this alien lizard did not have. The other thing was.. Behind the back legs? There would be bumps? Keith was trying to cut through the fogginess of his memories, but he hadn't put his lizard knowledge to practice since he was a child.  
The strange reptilian had grown comfortable with him as the day cycle came to a close. He'd pet glassy scales for at least two vargas by now, so they didn't flinch away when pale fingers traced behind thin legs. Smooth, thin legs. No bumps. Which means..  
"You're female."  
Keith didn't know why he was so surprised. Probably because they - she, he realized - was so brightly colored, and.. The horns..   
He froze as she put two clawed paws on his left shoulder, and heaved her onto him. The whole ordeal was surprisingly gentle, though she was heavier then she looked. Surprisingly balanced, she moved the front part of her body to the other side of him, and craned her long neck to look at him.   
She looked at him for about three tics before burying her head into his cheek, rubbing her face in his. He laughed as her long snout slid down his face and under his chin. She chirped as his hands patted her neck and back. He felt the gentle hump on her back, which reminded him of--  
"Nessie," he muttered, hearing high pitched clicks in response. "I'll call you Nessie."  
___________________________________________________________  
“I’m just saying, I don’t associate myself with the people who don’t do tongue tattoos off of fruit roll-ups. Those are what we call normies, and should be avoided at all costs.”   
“But, like, what about foreigners? Some people haven’t had fruit roll-ups before.Also, aliens. Do you think there’s a space equivalent to fruit roll-ups that have, like, tattoos and everything?”   
Damn. Hunk asking the important questions. He and Lance were heading to the kitchen, more for water pouches than snacks. After turning the castle upside down searching for the alien animal, all the paladins had worked up quite a thirst, so the two were here to stock up and pass out. The pouches. Pass out the pouches. And then go unconscious for possibly several hours..   
“Say, Hunk.. You think Allura will let us sleep for a bit after this?”   
“Probably not, dude. She’s gonna say something like ‘Paladins, we’ve been neglecting our training’ and make us train until we’re _catatonic_.”   
The blue paladin sighed as they entered the kitchen, opening the compartment closest to the door. He skimmed the shelves, and found what he was looking for.  
“Ugh. I _hate_ that you’re _right_! Maybe if I pretend to have a heart attack.”   
“That didn’t work during finals, and it won’t work now.”   
Hunk took half of the pouches in his arms, splitting the workload in half.  
“I _did_ get a pass.”  
“To the principal’s office! You did it _three years in a row_ , Lance!”   
The interaction was stopped short as a familiar crimson jacket made its way into the room. Two legs of Voltron looked at each other, silently wondering if they should say something, and if so, who should say it. A conclusion wasn’t reached by the time they looked back to him, but clearly one had to be made based on the blank raise of an eyebrow from said boy.   
Suddenly, a wide hand came to clap onto a shoulder of a more narrow body. Betrayal announced its presence as Hunk took all but one pouch from Lance’s arms and backed out slowly. 

Lance continued to stare after the most awkward “go-get-’em-tiger" facial expression, even after it retreated behind a doorway.   
Until a quiet clearing of the throat got his attention.


End file.
